Taiwanese legislators visit Luke Air Force Base in Arizona

Taipei, Aug. 2 (CNA) A delegation from Taiwan's Legislative Yuan visited Luke Air Force Base (Luke AFB) in Arizona on Tuesday to meet with U.S. Representative Trent Franks and see Republic of China (Taiwan) Air Force pilots receiving flight training there.

The delegation, consisting of members of the Legislature's Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, discussed with Franks ways to improve bilateral military cooperation and highlighted the importance of such cooperation for Taiwan's security, according to a Facebook post by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應).

They also met trainees of the 21st Fighter Squadron, which is part of the 56th Operations Group at Luke AFB. The group operates the F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft that are used to conduct advanced fighter training for the ROC pilots.

Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said in a Facebook post of his own that the F16 flight training is of great importance to Taiwan, but noted that with Luke AFB being converted to run F35 flight operations, Taiwan will need to seek another air base for F16 flight training.

Aside from Tsai and Wang, the other members of the legislative delegation are DPP lawmakers Wu Kuen-yuh (吳焜裕) and Lu Sun-ling (呂孫綾) and opposition Kuomintang lawmakers Hsu Yu-jen (許毓仁) and Lu Yu-ling (呂玉玲).

The delegation will next visit the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) in Hawaii.